Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: OSCAR HUMMEL, by EDGAR LEE MASTERS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: OSCAR HUMMEL, by                 Poet's Biography
First Line: I staggered on through darkness
Last Line: Till I dropped down dead at his feet.
Subject(s): Alcoholism & Alcoholics; Drunkards; Alcohol Abuse


I STAGGERED on through darkness,
There was a hazy sky, a few stars
Which I followed as best I could.
It was nine o'clock, I was trying to get home.
But somehow I was lost,
Though really keeping the road.
Then I reeled through a gate and into a yard,
And called at the top of my voice:
"Oh, Fiddler! Oh, Mr. Jones!"
(I thought it was his house and he would show me the way home.)
But who should step out but A. D. Blood,
In his night shirt, waving a stick of wood,
And roaring about the cursed saloons,
And the criminals they made?
"You drunken Oscar Hummel," he said,
As I stood there weaving to and fro,
Taking the blows from the stick in his hand
Till I dropped down dead at his feet.





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